The color of Vinyl
by Fenrir Riku
Summary: While out listening to some music by the renowned DJ Pon-3, the ponies realize that no body actually knows what color the DJ's eyes are, and Rainbow Dash makes it her mission to find out!


_**AN: Well, i saw this video on Youtube and at first I thought it was a commercial. I thought it'd be an awesome prompt for a fanfic. Several pages into it I realized that it was actually a fan video. Very well done. Now, everypony knows the usual 'I do not own Hasbro,' stuff, but I do want to thank *BlackGryph0n at Deviantart for inspiring and allowing me to use said idea. Oh, and this video i mentioned is called, 'Message from Vinyl Scratch' on Youtube. **_

It was a dull, grey, dreary day in Ponyville. The Pegasus ponies had let everyone know that it would be raining several days beforehand and so everyone had been prepared to stay inside. Off in Ponyville Library, Twilight Sparkle had been more than happy for the opportunity to get some cleaning and sorting done, followed up by a straight three hours of study. That is, until her friends decided to drop by, intent on banding together for entertainment and, of course, Pinkie Pie had a plan! However, judging by the blank look in Twilight Sparkle's eyes, the idea wasn't getting across.

"A… party?" Twilight asked slowly, looking around at her friends for confirmation that she wasn't just missing something. All her friends were present except for Fluttershy, who'd been called away to help deal with a small flooding issue in some rabbit warrens. "A party for what?"

"A party for fun, silly Twilight! You don't _always_ need an excuse to have a party! Sometimes it's great to just get out there and shake some tail," Pinkie Pie chimed in, hopping up onto her front hooves and dancing around to help get her point across.

"A party for no reason? I haven't seen you ever do that, Pinkie," Twilight pointed out, looking a little lost but a nod from Applejack and Rarity said that it wasn't just Pinkie going over everypony's heads, which happened fairly often. What with the light, drizzling rain pouring down over Ponyville, it just didn't seem like a day for a party.

"No no no Twilight, you're talking about a Pinkie Party which is always a party but a party isn't necessarily a Pinkie Party unless performed by the premier party pony in Ponyville, me! I like to save my parties for special occasions like birthday or welcoming somepony to town cause that gets me smiles and I _love _getting smiles but that doesn't mean you can't just have a party to celebrate celebrating!"

Twilight nodded slowly, starting to understand," So, since there's no special occasion, does that mean that you're not throwing the party, Pinkie?"

Without missing a beat, the frizzy pink pony whipped out a box of balloons, ready to get them blown up to begin creating the party atmosphere, but a certain teal colored Pegasus had other ideas.

Without looking away from the window where she sat, Rainbow Dash called out over the light patter of rain against the library, "DJ Pon-3 is supposed to be bustin' out the mix tables today. We could go listen to her."

"There ain't a rule sayin' that only Pinkie can throw parties y'know. Personally, I like Rainbow's idea. Ain't nothin' against your parties, Pinkie, but a pony can only take so much cake," Applejack chimed in with a chuckle. Indeed, there had been a birthday party for the Cake's twins over at Sugarcube Corner with enough sugary treats to stuff everypony there to the point that even two days later, the very idea of cake had their stomachs roiling uncomfortably.

But the idea of just going out dancing for a while sounded nice to everyone, except Twilight. "I don't know guys… I just got a shipment of books I ordered and they need to be catalogued and tagged and shelved. It's a lot of work and…" she trailed off, hoping they'd get the message and go on without her. The purple unicorn's horn glowed with magic, lifting three cardboard boxes full of books, hoping it would add some emphasis and be enough of a reason not to go.

It wasn't. "Aww shucks, if that's all y'all need doin' then we can give ya some help to finish up later. Ya don't need to miss out on account of work as long as ya got us around, sugarcube," Applejack grinned, the other ponies giving emphatic nods. Rainbow Dash even went so far as to get to her feet and give the Unicorn a nudge towards the door.

"That's right; it's not good for you to be cooped up in the library all the time. You need to get out every once in a while. Have some fun Twilight!"

"Indeed, even I need some time off every once in a while." At a glance from Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine. I'm here because I ran myself completely out of gems so I won't be making any dresses tonight and I have nothing better to do. Still, we might as well enjoy ourselves. After all, it doesn't do to be unsociable."

With all four ponies urging her towards the door, Twilight smiled and trotted towards the door. "Alright girls, I give. Let's go see this party." The admission was met with a chorus of cheers and a few minutes later, the group was galloping down the road towards the center of town, with Rarity following behind a little more sedately with a levitating umbrella, every so often making a disgusted comment about mud, despite the fact that they were in the cobblestoned area of town.

Just a few minutes past the fountain, the studio came into view and the low pound of the bass could be heard even all the way outside, sending ripples through the puddles of water gathering out in the streets.

Inside, the music evolved into its own physical force, with flashing strobe lights and a disco ball suspended from the ceiling flashing in time to the heavy beat. Tables and chairs ringed the outside of a slightly raised dance floor. The floor tiles flashed with the colors of the lights overhead, illuminating the coats of the ponies stomping and swaying to the music. Straight ahead, a white Unicorn sat at the mix tables, head bobbing to the music and wearing a satisfied grin as the strobe lights glinted off the dark purple lenses of her mirrored sunglasses, giving her mane a neon blue glow.

As soon as she was in the door, Pinkie Pie's back hoof started tapping and a moment later she jumped up onto the nearest table, boosting herself off it into a surprisingly graceful aerial corkscrew to land right in the middle of the dance floor, earning a round of applause from those ponies sitting back and watching from the tables. "Come on DJ, turn it up! Let's get this party started!"

The other four followed along somewhat more sedately. "That's her up there. DJ Pon-3. She does some awesome work," Rainbow Dash explained with a gesture at the glowing Unicorn on the stage.

"Yes, Vinyl Scratch is quite the talented artist," Rarity agreed, pulling a confused look from Rainbow Dash.

"Huh? Who's Vinyl Scratch?" she asked, glancing around, puzzled. Her confusion turned into an indignant huff when both Applejack and Rarity snorted.

"Darling, that's her actual name. DJ Pon-3 is just a stage name."

"Yup. She sure woulda gotten some hasslin' as a li'l philly if that was her actual name."

Blushing, Rainbow Dash stomped off to join Pinkie Pie, who was dominating the dance floor until Rainbow Dash dropped in. Seeing a competition in the making between Pinkie's spins and flips against Rainbow's wing aided soaring twists, the DJ grinned, turning the volume up even further and kicking up the tempo, leaving Applejack to trot down to the middle of the building to join the party also.

Twilight watched from the sidelines, somewhat impressed with the energy and agility displayed by her friends. "Wow… That sure does look like a lot of work. Don't you dance Rarity?" she asked the other unicorn standing next to her.

"I prefer more sophisticated dances like the waltz, or perhaps a tango if I'm feeling particularly adventurous. But this, no… However, they do have an interesting assortment of beverages if you'd care to join me at the bar. I mainly just come to be supportive and it _is_ better than sitting at home doing nothing. Much as I don't care for the music, Vinyl is quite talented at what she does."

"What exactly is it she does?" Twilight asked curiously, head tilting to the side as she listened intently to what little Rarity knew about the art of mixing.

It wasn't too long before a very exhausted looking rainbow-hued Pegasus trotted back towards the table. "I dunno… how she does it. Where does she get all that energy from?" Rainbow Dash panted, sliding into the empty chair next to Twilight. Sure enough, Pinkie Pie was still out there and busting out the spins and flips and twirls that had run Rainbow Dash out of breath.

"Darling, it's Pinkie Pie. Haven't you learned not to question it yet? Oh, and I took the liberty of ordering you a Forelock Fritz," Rarity passed down a glass filled with an assortment of tart fruit juices over a scoop of ice cream.

Rainbow nodded gratefully, taking a sip and feeling the sour burst of flavor hit her right between the eyes. "Wow, that stuff packs a punch, but its good!" she announced, spinning the glass around for analysis, as though the straw poking out the top somehow contributed to the flavor.

Chuckling quietly, Rarity glanced out over the studio, eyes resting on Vinyl Scratch for a moment. "Hmm. Rainbow Dash? You wouldn't happen to know what color Vinyl Scratch's eyes are, would you?"

"No, why?" Rainbow Dash answered. Hearing the question, the first thing that popped into her head was,_'She has eyes?' _ but saying that out loud would doubtless end up in more teasing so she kept that particular moment of mental sloth to herself.

"Well…" she began, pausing when Applejack trotted up to take a seat at their table, "I had a sudden idea for an outfit but I was wondering what to make the secondary color. They probably just match with her coat," she mused, more to herself than anything but Rainbow Dash heard, responding with a snort.

"Oh c'mon Rarity, my eyes don't match with my coat, so why would hers," she asked, earning a hearty chuckle from a golden-brown earth pony.

"Rainbow, sugar, ah'd be more worried if ya _did_ match; you'd have some pretty cooky lookin' eyes," she chortled, pulling a scowl from her winged friend. Crossing her hooves irritably, Rainbow Dash glanced over at the DJ.

"Yeah, well, do _you_ know what color her eyes are, Miss Smartyhooves?"

The question left Applejack looking baffled. "Nope… In fact, have any of y'all ever seen her without them glasses on?"

A round of head shaking passed the table; even spreading to several adjacent tables where other ponies had overheard the conversation picked it up for themselves. "Do _you _know what color they are?"

"Uh uh, no idea…"

All throughout the night, the topic of what was behind those mysterious shades continued to pop up, and the strangest assortment of answers had been collected, from rainbow hued eyes (which Rainbow Dash had scoffed at) to saying that she had no eyes; just speakers where eyes should be (which Twilight had scoffed at).

Slowly but surely, the dance floor emptied as the party ponies went their separate ways. Rarity was the first of the group to join the growing number of ponies headed off to bed. "Yes, I really must be going. Rainbow Dash, could you do me a teency weency favor?"

"Huh?"

Before you leave, could you ask Vinyl Scratch if she'd stop by the boutique tomorrow? I want to see about that stage outfit idea and perhaps find out her eye color at the same time."

"Sure, no sweat," Rainbow answered, flashing a good natured grin. Of course, she was mostly just curious to find out the answer for herself. Twilight bid the group a good night shortly after and before too long, Appledash was off to 'git some shut-eye for apple buckin' tomorra,' leaving Rainbow and Pinkie with the dwindling number of dancers until the music finally faded away. Ever enthusiastic, Pinkie bounced off out the door with just as much energy as she'd had all night, leaving the multicolored Pegasus free to fulfill Rarity's request.

"Hey, Dj Pon-3!"  
>Upon getting closer, she saw that the musical Unicorn was actually an extremely pale shade of yellow and not white at all. '<em>I wonder if that'll mess up Rarity's outfit whatever-it is," <em>she found herself wondering idly.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, right? Party's over, you can call me Scratch,"

"S-Scratch? In that case, I'm Dash. Just Dash."

The unicorn flashed one of her big dazzling smiles and sat back on her haunches, one hoof resting on the edge of her table. "Well then Just Dash, what can I do for ya?" she asked, voice low and a little rough sounding but still pleasant. '_A good sound for a DJ.'_

"Well… My friend Rarity was talking about how she had this idea for a stage outfit. If you're not busy tomorrow, she asked me to see if you could drop by Carousel Boutique."

"The boutique? Isn't that just for like… fancy frou-frou outfits?" Scratch made a face of disgust at the very idea of wearing a dress, but Rainbow Dash started frantically waving hooves from side to side.

"No no no, I mean, well, yeah, normally, but trust me, Rarity knows enough about cool to make you something totally awesome. You shoulda _seen_ what she made for me to wear to the Grand Galloping Gala!

Seeing Vinyl Scratch's jaw drop at hearing that had Rainbow Dash's ego shooting through the roof faster than her own wings could carry her. "You went to the Grand Galloping Gala!" Scratch asked incredulously. "H'oh my gosh, I've always wanted to go. I bet it'd be the best night ever!"

Thinking back over how her own 'best night ever' had ended up, Dash couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, everypony seems to think that but it really wasn't what I expected at all. I don't think you'd like it. Besides, I like you down here mixing up some killer music!"

Subjected to Rainbow Dash's own special brand of flattery, the DJ's grin broadened even further. "Heh… I'm glad you think so. Anyways, I'm not busy tomorrow morning so maybe I'll drop by and see what Rarity wanted. Oh, and I'll be here tomorrow night if you want to come show off your awesome dance moves again." And so the night ended with both Scratch and Dash sporting heavily inflated egos as they each headed home, reflecting on the interesting things they'd learned.

'_She's been to the Grand Galloping Gala…'_

'_She likes my dancing.'_

True to her word, Vinyl Scratch found herself wandering hesitantly towards Carousel Boutique. Part of her was curious to see what it was that a fashionista had in store for her. She just didn't want anyone else to see her doing it, because then suddenly everyone will have seen it and that could kill a pony's reputation faster than anything else. Still, she pushed up her shades and bravely trotted inside. Rainbow Dash had given the shop a good review after all.

Just over the door, a small set of bells jingled to announce a new arrival each time the door opened, thankfully saving Vinyl from standing around feeling awkward for too long. For the moment though, she busied herself with looking around.

All throughout the building, the tools of the fashion trade could be seen in neatly decorated alcoves. A multitude of sewing needles stuck out of a pincushion surrounded by every color thread imaginable. Apparently the thread color did matter, as no few than eight different reels sat by one particularly ornate gown resting on a mannequin against the far wall. Layers upon layer of cream colored silk and satin with heavily bejeweled boarders had the DJ pony feeling more and more like high tailing it out of there before she found herself somehow forced into one of those frilly deathtraps.

It was just a few short seconds before the owner of the Carousel Boutique, a purple maned unicorn came prancing out into the main room, eyes lighting up when she saw the customer. "Oh good morning Vinyl Scratch! I'm very pleased you could accept my invitation." Now that she'd been seen, any continued notion of a quick escape was cut off by Rarity's hearty greeting. "Now then, I had the most fabulous idea for an outfit for you last night and I was wondering how it would look.

"Erm… It's not something like that, is it?" Vinyl Scratch asked, gesturing at the lavish gown on the wall, pleasantly relieved when Rarity started laughing.

"Good heavens no, that gown is for one of my clients in Canterlot. I'd be more than happy to make you one if you'd like," Rarity began, again fueling that sense of unease in the other unicorn, "but it would _not_ be practical in your line of work. I was thinking something flashier, something like this perhaps."

Not for the first time, Vinyl heaved a silent sigh of relief then sat back on her haunches to watch Rarity work. Responding to the unicorn's magic, rolls of material levitated out of their niches with scissors waiting in midair to cut out the fabric needed and within ten minutes, the outline of a long, glossy black jacket lay on one of the mannequins. "Wow… I gotta say Miss Rarity, that's some impressive work you do," Vinyl stated, impressed in spite of herself.

"Oh why thank you. Of course, it's not finished yet. I have some shiny blue ribbon that should work for a trim but it still needs a secondary design color. I was thinking perhaps something to bring out your eyes," she suggested, remembering their debate the other day but even in the bright light of her boutique, Rarity couldn't see anything behind those dark purple lenses.

"Huh? Well, if this is gonna be a stage outfit sort of thing they you oughta use a different color since I don't take my shades off. How about this one?" she asked, pointed to a one of the other rolls of fabric and Rarity nodded, getting dragged back into the world of fashion. "Yes, I think it would come together quite nicely. I wouldn't have thought I'd hear something like that from a musician. I suppose it just goes to show that we all know a little something about everything. I'm not much of a musician but I did write a rather catchy song about dressmaking…"

After another half hour of amiable chatting between the two unicorns and a recital of the surprisingly well done dressmaking song, Vinyl Scratch wandered out of the shop sporting a glossy black overcoat with electric blue trim and indigo emblazoned quarter notes on the flanks, just like her cutie mark, and her glasses still in place. When she'd started asking how much it would cost, the dressmaker simply laughed and shooed her out the door.

When questioned about Vinyl's eye color later, Rarity only giggled and shrugged for the frustrated Rainbow Dash. "Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away."

Somewhat disappointed at not having her curiosity sated, Rainbow Dash paced circles around the library while Twilight listened with a halfway attentive ear, the other half of her attention on shelving books. "I mean, it's not like I can just waltz on up and ask her. I need another idea. What do you think, Twilight?"

"Harmonics and Musical Theory, Volume III" Twilight mumbled, searching for the proper shelf. "Um… Well, you could-"

"Invite her over to talk about music! You've got plenty of music books here, right Twilight? I bet she'd have to take her glasses off to read, right? Great idea! When are you free?" Rainbow Dash cut in, suddenly enthusiastic on what seemed to be a fool proof plan and ignorant to the fact that she'd interpreted Twilight's cleaning to be a stroke of inspirational genius.

"Uhm… Tomorrow I guess?"

"Great, tomorrow morning it is!" and without any further consulting, she raced off in a flash of color to extend yet another invitation to the mysterious Vinyl Scratch to a music discussion session. Of course, the next morning, when Vinyl showed up bright and early at her front door, initially Twilight had no idea what she was talking about.

"Are you … sure I asked to see you?" the unicorn asked, still a little groggy from waking up and incidentally leaving Vinyl to scuff her hooves on the ground for the awkwardness to ensue.

"Yeah… Something about music theory… I dunno…"

Music theory. Suddenly it clicked and the purple Pegasus immediately perked up, grabbing the book from the other day off the shelf. "Oh that's right! I'm sorry; I'm not used to being up at this hour. I had some questions that I was hoping you could answer."

Shrugging, Vinyl took a few steps forward, still a little self conscious. "I guess I can try. If you want to know about instruments, you'd be better off asking Octavia." Still, she trotted inside to discuss the finer points of how important the concept of harmonics was in music and before long, Twilight was so caught up in what she was learning that she'd forgotten what she'd been supposed to be doing in the first place. Of course, it didn't make the slightest bit of difference because contrary to Rainbow Dash's assumption, Vinyl was perfectly capable of reading through the dark purple lenses on her glasses, thought the Pegasus didn't see this as much of an excuse.

"Ugh! I'm never going to find out what color they are!" Rainbow Dash wailed, flopping melodramatically into a cloud near Sweet Apple Acres to waste away the day with a heaping helping dose of self pity… or at least kill a few hours. It would have been totally fine for her to lay there and complain about the unfairness of life for a few hours, but Applejack had no intention of sitting through that.

The business end of a lasso grabbed onto Rainbow's back hoof, yanking her both literally and metaphorically back 'down to earth'. "Now listen here, Sugarcube. I know y'all like to get all riled over things like this. I know y'all also don't like losin' and I ain't got no intention of sittin' around and listenin' to that. The answer here is pretty simple."

Coughing through the cloud of dust that accompanied her hard impact with the ground, Rainbow Dash stumbled to her feet wondering what she'd overlooked. "Simple? What is it?"

"Tell her the truth, sugar. Ya'll are upset that ya ain't got what ya ain't asked fer, and honesty never does a pony wrong," Applejack explained patiently. In her head, Rainbow Dash was rolling her eyes. It should have been obvious that that would be her answer. Applejack _did _embody the spirit of honesty after all. For some reason though, that whole fiasco with Princess Luna was one that didn't come to mind very often.

Still, her friend had never steered her wrong before so… "Yeah, alright, I guess I'll try it," Rainbow Dash mumbled, more upset that she'd have to admit to Vinyl Scratch how childish she'd been acting.

The sun had just started to make a noticeable dip towards setting when Rainbow Dash flew back over the outskirts of Ponyville and into the town itself and another moment later she landed at the front door of the studio. It was still far too early in the afternoon for any of the regulars to be at the studio, but the faint sound of music echoed from inside the building. Sure enough, There was Vinyl Scratch sitting alone at her mix tables, but the speakers where playing something more along the lines of light dinner music, not even close to the heavy bass techno from their last outing.

Vinyl Scratch looked up to see the Pegasus sneaking warily into the studio and turned the volume down to faint background noise. The winged Philly even had her sheepish expression all ready to go. "Oh, hey Dash. What's up? Are you here to invite me somewhere again?"

The Pegasus flushed, hearing the playful, teasing note in the question. "Uhm… no, I wanted to ask you something," she mumbled, staring down at her hooves.

"Heh, I was wondering if you were trying to butter me up to ask for a free gig or something. If you've got a party or something that you want me to mix for, just ask."

Taking a deep breath, Rainbow trotted forward to explain. Even though she knew that Scratch, being the fanciful, laid back pony that she was, probably wouldn't care, It was still something to hesitate over before doing something that would make her look dumb, or worse, uncool. _'Well… it's now or never…"_  
>"The truth is, we were talking about you the other day and we realized that none of us have ever seen you with your glasses off and we were wondering what color your eyes are. I know it sounds kinda dumb but I figured you didn't want people knowing for a reason."<p>

After several moments of silence, Rainbow Dash finally chanced a glance upward to see Vinyl smirking at her. "Come here…" Biting her lip, Rainbow trotted two steps forward and stopped. "No no no, come _here_ come here. I wanna show you something." This time the rainbow Pegasus walked right up to the side of the mix tables. "That's better. Okay…"

The Pegasus didn't even realize that she was holding her breath watching the glasses come off, waiting for Vinyl to open her eyes. Then she did.

"Bam. They're red, baby. You can… tell everypony to stop arguing now." Vinyl grinned and stuck out her tongue, and though she played it off as unimportant, the attention was both flattering and embarrassing.

"That is so… _awesome_!"

"Heh… I'll show you something else that's even more awesome," Vinyl declared, stepping forward and set her glasses on the tip of Rainbow Dash's nose. "We're gonna make you into a pro, DJ D4$h."

Of course, even though there'd been a happy ending, one small thing was still missing to make it complete, and for that, Dash would need the help of Spike.

"_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_ Rainbow Dash here, just wanting to let you know what I learned. Sometimes, we think we know more about somepony than we actually do. It can make us afraid to ask questions because we think we already know what the answer will be, but if we just give them a chance, they might surprise us, and with what we learn about them from doing that might be the beginning of a new friendship._

_Sincerely, Rainbow Dash_


End file.
